I needn't have worried about the Owls as it happened. They beat Sheffield United 1-0 in the Steel City Derby. Although we went "out and about" and I avoided hearing anything about the game until it was all over!

Barca and Liverpool winning were bonuses but I have to say that my list of favourite teams has been shortened to three by the sacking of Gary Megson at Sheffield Wednesday this week. The Chairman, Milan Mandaric, has a track record of chopping managers but I believe this time, he got it totally wrong. Like Huddersfield Town, who sacked Lee Clark a short while ago, the Chairman has said he had to make the change now before the season went too much further if the Owls are to get promotion.

Huddersfield had lost something like 4 games in their last 50 or so and were lying in third place in the division whilst Wednesday, admittedly after a run of four defeats, had just won the biggest game of the season so far and had taken back third place in the league. Anyway - the Owls do not interest me any more - in fact I couldn't tell you who they played or what the result was yesterday. Meh.

Yesterday, Belper carried on where they left off with a hard won 3-2 victory at home to Market Drayton. The performance wasn't as good as on Tuesday but the win makes it 6 from 7 games since the turn of the year. 18 points gained, with 15 goals scored and 7 against. Champions form and we'll have to watch it or Duffs will be getting a Manager of the Month award!

Away from footy, we went for a drive up to Catcliffe last Sunday afternoon and although there wasn't anything dramatically out of the ordinary, I managed a couple of good shots of a cormorant drying off it's wings.

I'm not a big fan of these prehistoric looking birds. Mainly because they have moved further inland from the coast and are decimating commercial fisheries and fish farms. A lot of river fishing in this country has been wiped out by these ravenous birds but since, like almost all bird species, they have protected status, licences have to be obtained before they may be culled

We then moved on to Ulley Reservoir which we didn't know is actually a Country Park. And a very nice one too which will be explored further when we get a chance.

The reservoir was in danger of collapse in 2007 when we had the floods in Sheffield and the situation was so serious that the M1 motorway was closed until the pressure on the embankmant was relieved by running off some water and shoring up the dam with limestone. According to the leaflet I picked up at the Reception Centre, the place was closed to the public for 3 years, reopening in 2010 with new footpaths, benches and so on.

A sailing club is based there and a regatta was going on last week so we sat and watched for a while, leaving the 3-mile walk around the whole dam for another day when we have a bit more time. (Another bonus - parking usually costs 60p but the ticket machine was broken and a notice allowed free parking until it's fixed!)

Here's a few pics.....

And finally - a swan - aren't they just majestic?!

OK - nowt else to report. We "switched on" the new software at work on Thursday and it went pretty smoothly. Still a couple of wrinkles to iron out but we'll get there. It's also a comfort to know the old software is being run "in parallel" for a month as a bit of a safety net. Next week's the big test when we start invoicing but we'll see!

So - Sunday again and we're pretty much confined to barracks by the awful weather. Lots of rain and sleet in Sheffield this morning and we're now getting "game abandoned" and "game postponed" calls and e-mails from Junior League clubs.